Concept Attainment Model
CONCEPT ATTAINMENT MODEL
THE THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
Concept attainment model was developed by the studies of Jerome S. Bruner and his associates Jacqueline Goodnow and George Austin.
Meaning and importance of concepts.
A concept is a mental representation of mental picture of some object or experience. It represents a category of objects which share common properties.
A concept is the label of a set of things that have something in common.
Concept Attainment Model Helping children learn concepts efficiently.
Concept attainment and concept formation are two strategies.
Concept attainment : Learner is given the opportunity to observe closely a collection of objects or phenomena and encourage him to pay attention to their attributes or characteristics.
Gradually he may develop the ability to categorize or classify those items that satisfy a set of common attributes.
If this is done correctly he may be able to decide whether any item shown or seen can be included in that set or he will be able to say 'Yes' or 'No' about the inclusion of an item to the category. When he is able to do this correctly and also able to give his own example from the environment he can be said to have attained the concept representing that category having the common attributes or essential criteria. This process is known as concept attainment.
At the end of this, the learner will also be able to define the concept on the basis of the essential attributes.
Concept formation: The concept has to be formed by the learner himself. Here, he observes items in natural situations on his own. He forms his own hypotheses and does the categorisation or generalization himself. In one sense, this stage is involved in concept attainment also. Only the first step in concept formation namely observing and comparing items and forming hypotheses is done in concept attainment with the help of somebody who guides his thought process along correct lines. In concept formation, a learner makes as many classes as he could imagine from among a pool of items. Then each group is defined in terms of cues or attributes with the help of the teacher.
Elements of concept
According to Bruner, a concept includes five elements.
1. Name
2. Exemplars (positive and negative)
3. Attributes (essential and non essential)
4. Attribute values. and
5. Rule.
To know a concept these five elements should be known.
Name is the word that describes a concept for communication, eg: river, birds etc.
Exemplars : These are the items that could be used in the process of categorisation. These may include items that are positive examples that obey all the essential clues. The positive example leading to the concept. As well as negative items that do not satisfy all the cues of a positive example, but are needed for making the grouping meaningful and definite.
Most of the concepts have more than one example. Examples of a concept have all the essential attributes of the concept present in them. The non essential attributes are present in some examples and absent in others.
Positive examples : Examples which contains all the essential attributes in them are known as positive examples.
Negative examples: Absence of one or more essential attributes make an instance a negative example of a concept.
Attributes are features or characteristics on the basis of which a number of items could be categorized into a particular group or class that represents the concept. A few of these will be essential
Every concept has two types of attributes -
(a) Essential attributes: The common features or characteristics of the concept. These attributes are present in all the examples of the concept.
(b) Non-essential attributes: Some of the slight differences among examples of a category reflect the non-essential attributes.
Rules : Rule is the definition formed to describe a concept on the basis of the essential attributes.
Description of Concept attainment model
a. Syntax
Phase 1: Presentation of data and Identification of
concept
Phase 2: Testing attainment of the concept
Phase 3: Analysis of Thinking Strategies
b. social system
Teacher carefully prepares in advance positive and negative examples and label them and sequences them.
Teacher acts as a recorder.
Teacher provides additional examples.
The system is highly structured at the initial stage, but later when pupil are made to test the hypothesis and to generate their own example
Last stage the structure becomes medium and even low.
c. Principle of reaction
Supports the pupil's hypothesis and facilitates a meaningful dialogue.
Again becomes supportive at the final phase.
Encourage different strategies.
d. Support system
Material mainly in the form of positive and negative examples.
An atmosphere conducive to the spirit of discovery
Again becomes supportive at the final phase. Encourage different strategies.
e. Instructional effect
Getting clear idea about the nature of concept
Developing skills in using appropriate concept formation
Attaining specific concepts.
f. Nurturant effect
Sensitive to logical reasoning
Develop the skill of inquiry.
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